Early on Friday morning, more sad news emerged from Boston: an MIT police officer had been shot and killed. The school urged students to stay indoors, as cable news anchors returned to live broadcasts around midnight. It appeared that the shooting, as well as a new photo of suspect No. 2 fleeing the marathon bombing, would be the biggest news of the night, but that was not the case.

Sometime after midnight, strange reports came over the police scanners that journalists and others had been monitoring on the Web and via smartphone apps. A stolen police SUV? High-speed pursuit? Explosives and ... did they just say grenades? Authorities converged on the Boston suburb of Watertown, residents were urged to stay indoors, and police officers were told to turn off cell phones so as not to detonate explosives that were reportedly lobbed at police by the individuals in a speeding car.

Having been burned earlier in the week over false reports of an arrest in the marathon case, CNN and other broadcasts proceeded cautiously, with CNN throwing to its local affiliates. But on Twitter, where thousands were listening to that police scanner, the chatter was fast and furious amidst shouts of "shots fired!" from officers.

Eventually, as the initial chaos died down, the discussion turned to how the story was developing on the micro-blogging site and whether or not Twitter - and the crowd-sourcing efforts of Reddit and 4chan - actually owned the story rather than traditional media outlets.

"really not trying to turn this into media crit but its blowing my mind how i am not paying any attention to CNN and am transfixed on Twitter," All Things D's MikeIsaac chimed in about 10 minutes later.

"Seems I've gotten faster, more accurate, and better unbiased news on twitter and reddit, than I have from mainstream media. #watertown," another user tweeted this morning.

Truthfully, Twitter was more engaging as the story unfolded. It's not every day that you hear officers breathlessly call for backup as they dodge explosives during a high-speed chase; ("At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the scanner announce that Jack Bauer is on the scene," Danny Sullivan quipped this morning).

Meanwhile, it took media outlets longer to confirm information than it did for someone on Twitter to transcribe what they were hearing on the scanner, so it appeared that some stations and papers were behind the curve. But those scanner details were often confusing and incorrect (there was no stolen police SUV), particularly as people tried to figure out if one or two suspects were in custody. A clearer picture emerged as publications and news stations dispatched reporters to the scene, who captured images and videos of state and local police, the FBI, and SWAT moving in on Watertown.

But the debate continued - at least among the tech journalists on my feed - about who was covering it best; another "citizen journalism" vs. mainstream media debate.

NBC's Luke Russert, however, argued that "tonight, the new media world has made its mark. Like when Bernard Shaw stayed in Iraq for CNN during Gulf War 1."

"Twitter. Redit [sic]. MSNBC's most informative guest is a citizen journalist on Skype. It's truly a new era. #Boston," he tweeted minutes later.

But however you followed this story or got your information last night, the truth is, no one source had all the information. Twitter helped us watch the story unfold, local TV stations brought us images directly from Watertown, and the Boston Globe eventually confirmed that the suspect in custody was one of the suspected marathon bombers. The beauty of new media and emerging platforms is that they give us another way to get our news; it doesn't have to be one or the other, and there's really no point in trying to determine a "winner."

"So last night: Yay Twitter! Yay Reddit! Boo CNN! And this morning: Shame on you, Twitter. Shame on you Reddit! Make up your minds people," AwardsDaily's Sasha Stone summed it up this morning.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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